Turn Off Built-In Support for ZIP Files

If you are running another ZIP utility such as WinZIP, you may want to turn off the built-in support for ZIP files. Windows will search ZIP files when using Search - For Files or Folders, a process that will take considerably longer and display incomplete information in the In Folder column of your search results. To turn off this built-in support for ZIP files and speed up your searches, you can disable this support by editing your windows registry. Of course, always backup your registry prior to any modifications. Follow these steps:

First Start, Run, then type regedt32 and click OK.

Export a copy of your registry for backup, then select Run from the Start Menu. Type in the Run box: regsvr32 /u %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll.

At the prompt, click OK.

This change will take effect immediately, but you many have to restart Windows for all traces of the built-in ZIP support to disappear.

If at any time, you want to return to the built-in support, just edit your registry and follow these two commands:

First Start, Run, then type regedt32 and click OK.

Export a copy of your registry for backup, then select Run from the Start Menu. Type in the Run box: regsvr32 %windir%\system32\zipfldr.dll.

At the prompt, click OK.

This change will take effect immediately, but you many have to restart Windows for all traces of the built-in ZIP support to disappear.

This tip has been extracted from Annoyances.Org dated 8 November 2005, for more information link to their site Annoyances.